The Bible flees to Matthew chapter
11. I'm going to read three or four
verses of Scripture which tell a story, and I hope God will
write it on our hearts, tell a true story, a solemn story,
a wonderful story. Matthew chapter 11 and verse
27. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, thus saith the Lord Jesus. And no man knoweth
the Son. Now notice these words carefully. No man knoweth the Son, but the
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son. And I thank God for this next
verse. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. We live in a generation when
everyone thinks they know God. There's not a family here that
doesn't have people in their family, friends, people you love.
and attend religious services, perhaps very faithfully. And
yet the Bible declares that most of those in each and every generation
who meet together and worship together in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, most of them have entered the broad gate and are
walking the broad way, which leads to utter destruction. I
heard Brother Magruder recently on the tape, and he said, they
haven't heard about the true God. They haven't heard about
the God of the Bible. He said, don't despise Him. Tell them about the true God.
The one they believe in is the only one they've ever heard.
Knowing God, the true God, is life everlasting, life eternal. If we don't know Him, we don't
have life. And so we need to know him. And no man knows him
by nature. The only way you can know him
is if he's pleased to reveal himself to us. The Apostle Paul said one time,
he said, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness
back yonder in creation has shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the only way we can ever
know Him. The only way we can ever know Him. Now look with
me, John 17. John 17, and verse 2 and 3. Praying unto His Father in His
great high priestly prayer, our Lord said, Thou hast given Him,
Christ, power over all flesh, that He might give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. Power over all flesh. Power
to reveal God to whomsoever He pleases. And what is this life? Verse
3, And this, There is no use arguing, no use debating. This,
from the Word of God, thus saith the Lord, is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. None of us know Him by nature,
but we must know Him to inherit eternal life, to have eternal
life. One other place, look at 1 John chapter 5. 1 John 5. Verse 20. 1 John 5.20. And we
know that the Son of God is come. 1 John 5.20. that the Son of God is come,
and hath given us, look at it now, given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. Reveal the Father to us in Christ
Jesus. Given us an understanding, we
didn't have one before, that we may know Him that is true,
and we are in Him that is true. In Him that is true. Even His
Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. And eternal
life. No question about it. I've often
said to the church, you're the most important thing in all the
world. First and foremost and chief
thing in all the world. as you stand before God, is what
do you think about His Son? That's it. What do you think
about His Son? Not have you been baptized, not are you a church
member, but what are your thoughts concerning His Son? In our day,
He's been reduced in the preaching and the ears of the hearers into
a pygmy that couldn't save anybody. He's a beggar trying to save
and men won't let Him. But that's not what this Bible
says. This Bible says life eternal is knowing God, and Christ has
the power to give that knowledge to you and me, to whomsoever
he pleases. That's what it says. That's what
we read, to give us an understanding. Now, true religion has for its
foundation the Word of God, sound doctrine. foundation, thus saith
the Lord. And we don't have to look back
to some experience. We read in the scriptures, and
we're encouraged, and we confirm our faith, and we make our calling
and election sure according to the Word of God. And we check
preachers according to the Word of God. If they preach not according
to this book, because they're still in darkness, still in darkness. And so true religion has for
its foundation sound doctrine. Not creeds and confessions of
men which are ever and always changing. But this word never
changes. This word never changes. The
word of God. But true religion, listen to
me, true religion is much more than acquiescence to the truth
of God, much more than acquiescing to sound doctrine. Accepting,
acknowledging, accepting and receiving. Much more than that.
I heard an old preacher say not long ago on tape, he said there'd
be so many Calvinists in hell, their feet would be sticking
out the windows. Just there. Reception of knowledge,
mental conception of knowledge. Never saved anybody. It's important,
but it never saved anybody. Paul said, God must shine in
their hearts. The Apostle Peter said, we know
who you are. You're the Son of the living
God. Christ looked at him and said, Simon, Barjonas, blessed
art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto thee,
but my Father, my Father, my Father. True religion. People who are
saved by the grace of God. People to whom God has been revealed. They know the true and living
God. These people know Him personally and intimately, and that means
savingly. They know Him personally and
intimately and savingly. True religion is a sinner's personal
union. We are in Him, that is true.
It's a sinner's personal union and fellowship. with the living
God in Christ Jesus. Not just knowing doctrine. Not
just knowing true doctrine. But it's a union with God in
Christ. And an intimate knowledge of
Him. A sinner's faith and trust and confidence is not in bare
doctrine. It's in a person. Paul said,
I know whom. I know whom. I have believed. I am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.
Against that there is trusting a person. Trusting a person. The very sum and substance of
our holy religion is that gloriously unique God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. To know Him. To be in Him. To love Him. Who lived for us
and died for us and ever liveth to make intercession for us,
knowing Him, trusting Him, knowing God in Christ. Now, I want to
talk to you a few minutes, and I want to make three points that
I've used in sermons elsewhere, three points that I've had in
my bulletins more than once, but they're so important. Salvation,
justification, is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. These points were given to me
by Brother Mahan many years ago, and they are essential to the
salvation of any soul. We were sitting in my kitchen
one time many years ago, and he said, hear an outline from
John Newton, sermon outline. I said, yeah. And he told me
and I wrote it down. Three points. You remember these
right up on your heart. True religion arises out of a
true knowledge of God, as he revealed in this book. There
can't be any true religion without it. Faith is a gift of God. Faith cometh through the Word
of God by way of the Word. And God doesn't give saving faith
to those who believe lies. They know His Son. They know
God. True religion arises out of a true knowledge of God, as
He revealed in this book. True religion arises out of a
true knowledge of man, me, as I'm described in this book. I'm
not talking about bare acquiescence to the truth. I'm talking about
reality. It becomes real. Who I am, what
I am is real to me. You don't have to talk to me
about it. I know what I am. You have an anointing from the
Holy One and you know all things. And true religion arises thirdly
out of a true sense and understanding of the great things God has done
for us in His Son. Those three things are imperative
that we believe them, that we know who God is. And in His light,
we see ourselves. And in that light, we see our
need of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we need Him and we seek Him
and we find Him. Now, let me mention this just
as briefly as I can. First of all, true religion arises
out of a true knowledge of God, as He's revealed in this book.
You walk around town and you ask people, who's God? What do
you think of God? You get ten million different
answers. The first and foremost, He's God indeed. He's God absolute,
and He's God alone. Now listen to this, I've written
it down here. I want you to hear this. Take
it to heart. He does, throughout the universe,
Throughout eternity, the God of this book, He does as He pleases,
always as He pleases, and only as He pleases. If that weren't
true, He wouldn't be God. He doeth according to His will
in the army of heaven. And everybody said, Amen! Hallelujah! But, and among the inhabitants
of this earth, may you, all of us, does according to his will. No man can stay his hand to question
what he does. David said, why should the heathen
say, where now is your God? He said, well, my God is in heaven
where He's always been and He's doing what He's always done,
whatever He pleases. In the heavens, in the earth,
in the sea, in all deep places, He does whatever He pleases.
Psalm 115, Psalm 135. And Job, in the context of all those horrible
things which happened to him. Job said he's a one man and who
can turn him. And whatsoever his soul desires,
that's what he does. That can only be said of one
being in all the universe, God, who is God absolute and God alone. There's none like Him, none to
compare Him to. He's God alone, all alone, exalted,
God alone. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
11, He works all things. How many things? How much? All things after the counsel
of His own will. Romans 8, 28, it takes a sovereign
to make this statement. To believers, to his elect, he
makes all things work together by our good and his glory. That means everything in this
world that comes to pass is subservient to the salvation of the elect
of God. Salvation of the elect of God. What confidence and encouragement
that ought to give us. God's in control. God's in charge.
God is God indeed. God indeed. God over all. That's what the Bible calls Him.
He is, two other points, He is absolutely sovereign. He is God
over all forever. God indeed. Not just a name. He's God. Actually is. And He
is, number two, so infinitely holy and pure that sinners by
nature are odious and despicable in His sight. When I was born
into this world, I was born that way. Everything God was, I wasn't. I was opposed to everything God
is by nature. We're born into this world, little
grasshoppers, worms, despicable things, in the eyes of God by
nature. Loathsome. That's why it says
that by nature we're the children of wrath, children of God's wrath. Number three, he is unchangeably
just so that he can by no means clear the guilty. He doesn't
just let folks go. He doesn't just forgive sin.
He punishes sin. Sin must be paid for. Every sin
and transgression and disobedience shall receive a just recompense
of reward. Every sinner must die. And every
sinner shall die the death. In Egypt that night of the Passover,
every sinner died, every firstborn died that night. Where the angel
did not visit is where the blood was not. And where the blood
was, on the doorpost and the lintel, death, death, there was
blood, death. They all died, some in a substitute
and some without a substitute. Sinners are going to die. they're
going to die the death, either in themselves or in a substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no way around it. God
can by no means clear the guilty. And boy, we are guilty. The wages of sin is death. Secondly,
through religion, arises out of a true knowledge of man, as
God described me in this book. How can I know what I am in the
eyes of God? Only one place in this book.
I don't ask my mama, because she thought too highly of me.
I don't ask my daddy. He thought too highly of me.
I don't ask you folks. You think too highly of me. I
ask the Lord. Lord, what am I? Who am I? as
I stand in your presence, as I stand before you." And he said,
well, I looked over men, and he said, the hearts of men are
evil continually. Not only evil every now and then,
but continually. And it said, the heart of man
is deceitful above everything in this world, and desperately wicked. And that
word desperately is a medical term and it means incurable. Incurably wicked. Deceitful and
incurably wicked. Man looks only outward appearance,
but God looks on the heart. We are spiritual lepers. As we
stand before God, I am, you are, by nature. That's what we are
and that's all we'll ever be, by nature. Adam's fallen nature,
spiritual leprosy. You know, in the Old Testament,
you read about leprosy, a type of sin, and it was a contagious
and contaminating, deathly thing. Contagious, contaminating, deathly
thing. Those who were lepers were shut
out from society, shut out from the house of God, shut out from
the people of God, and we are by nature, we don't know God.
We can't even see the things of God. In fact, that old leper, if anyone
inadvertently came too near them, they'd put their hands to their
mouth and cry, unclean, unclean. How humiliating. Shameful. That's how we are in the eyes
of God. Isaiah chapter 1, verses 3 through
6, like wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. You don't want
to touch those. You don't even want to look at
them. That's how we are in the eyes of God, by nature. But most men don't believe that
they have this spiritual leprosy at all. They believe what the
Old Testament describes as just surface blemishes. It just has
some blemishes. Not perfect. I'm not perfect.
Everybody's a sinner, you know. That's what they say. But you
must see it. You must see yourself. You must
know yourself as you're described in this book. Described in this
book. Daniel, get that door, please. I can hear people standing up
all around the country and say, I thank God I'm not like other
men, not like this old leper. I'm not a murderer. But God looks
on the heart and He sees the hatred. And He says, Murderer! I thank God I'm not like other
men. I'm not an adulterer. God looks inside the heart and
He says, seize thy lust. He said, adulterer, kill him. That's a bad place to stop, wasn't
it, if we had to stop there? But true religion arises out
of a true sense and understanding. And you can't make great too
great of the great things God's done for us in His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. True religion. You can't have true religion
without these three things. You know the truth about God.
You don't know God entirely. Nobody can. He's finite. He's
infinite. We're finite. We can't even know
His thoughts. They're too high. Also, True
religion arises out of a true knowledge of me. And it's not
just doctrine. It's not just something to talk
about. It's a testimony of me. It's what I am. That's where
I live every day. True religion arises out of a
true sense of understanding. The great things God's done for
sinners and his son. Oh, man. I'll tell you, no man
can preach this like it ought to be preached. Nobody. First, what the old Puritans
and old preachers used to call the infinite stoop of God, came from the highest glory to
the lowest hell to make us what He is, as He is. The Bible says He was rich, but
for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might
be made rich. What a story. That's not a fairy
tale, that's not a fable. We talk about it flippantly in
our day, people do, but it's real. God Almighty was made lower
than the angels, made one of us. In the fullness of time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
and He'll always be a man forever, one of us. Not ashamed to call
His elect president, He's one of us. Both he that sanctifies
and they who are sanctified, they're all of one. We're one
in Christ and members one of another. That's the Bible language.
That's what the Word of God says. The eternal Son of God, made
of a woman. God said just call Him Immanuel
because that's who He is. He's God down there. Made in the likeness of sinful,
leprous flesh. Looked just like other men. Couldn't
tell the difference. Paul said, had they known it,
known who He was, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory.
But they didn't know. And I thought about this at some
length. The Bible talks about old Lot sitting at the gate of
Sodom, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, day
in and day out. And yet the Holy God, the Son
of God, came into this world, became one of us, and dwelt among
us. Leprous sinners, odious, despicable
people. Everywhere he turned, odious,
despicable. suffering the contradiction of
sinners against Himself. They didn't have to speak. He
could see what's in their heart. And I think about that suffering.
The Holy One of God living among us. But He did for 33 years. Near the end of His holy life,
Among us lepers, He's about to be made what we are. We're talking about a giant step
to dwell among us. It's unspeakably solemn, serious,
beyond imagination. But He became what we are. The Bible said in Job 25, we
are as maggots in the eyes of God, and how in the world can
a maggot ever be just with God? And in Psalm 22, Christ cried
out under the burden and weight and contamination of our He cried out from the depths
of his soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And
the answer is, because thou art holy, and he was made sin. And then it says later, I'm a
worm, a maggot, and no man. He became what we are, that we
might be made like him. He died the just for the unjust.
He might bring us to God. Bring us to God. No wonder he
cried out in the garden, if it be possible let this cook pass
from me. And sweat as it were great drops
of blood. But he said, oh my father, If this cup may not pass away,
except our drink it, thy will be done." We never will, throughout
eternity, we never will learn the depth of those meanings of
those words. And in love beyond human comprehension,
no, in love beyond human imagination, he was made to be seen that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. Thy ain't the just one for us
lepers, because that's the only way he can bring us to God. God
cannot clear the guilty except through a substitute. And our Lord Jesus Christ was
our federal head, our representative, our substitute, and our surety. Everything that God required
of us, He said, I'll pay it. I'll do it. And He did. And salvation is of the Lord,
by the way. Salvation is of the Lord. He lives today to make
lepers whole. He lives today, ever lives. to
make intercession for His people. May God bless these words to
our hearts, and may we see God as He is, and ourselves as we
are, and the great thing God done for us in His Son. God bless
you. Okay, David, let's have a...
Well, let's be dismissed for a few minutes. Just be dismissed
for a few minutes. And when you hear the piano playing, eleven
o'clock, Come back and sit down. Brother Mahan's going to preach
to us. Thank you.